This was fairly close to what the final hardscape ended up looking like, except for the removal of the awkward horizontal branch on the left.

I planted as soon as my plants arrived unfortunately I did not get photos of that process. I was trying to get it done and it took a very long time. I had a near disaster during the process as well. Long story short, the linked hoses I had been using to spray and mist plants as I went had been leaking and required some clean up I was fortunate a few things aligned so that it wasn't a total disaster. It just kept me from getting much sleep that night.

The tank has been going well and I will share pictures of it planted soon. I have had some issues with some hair algae. A type I have not encountered before. I will also try to show some pics of it as well. It is long single strand threads that attach to older leaves and hardscape. It seems to anchor itself and grow the long strand out from there. It is very tough to remove as it doesn't catch easily in anything.

I absolutely agree, Keith, that piece stood out in the worst way. I couldn't quite get it arranged to flow with the other pieces so I removed it. I'm using plants as the attention getters in this scape and that area will be filled with some crypts and various stems. The idea is that most of the hardscape in the rear will be swallowed by stems and poke out into the forground and the path transition.

I think I have finally mastered (or at least got the hang of) growing HC. The carpet is spreading and filling in thick.

The confounding thing is with all the nice growth this hair algae doesn't seem to be receding at all. You can't see it from a distance, but up close you can see the individual strands. I have a couple plans of attack. First, I'm trying some consistent dosing of Excel. I dose it irregularly and will try for some regular dosing to see if it is inhibited. It is a green algae, which Excel doesn't usually fight, but it also the way it anchors reminds me of staghorn. It is really stubborn and I don't think I can manually remove it. It most likely originated from my HC. Again, I'm reminded a nice KMnO4 bath of plants before planting is prudent. It will zap some dormant or unseen algae or pests. HC being as delicate as it is, I didn't want to mess with it since I wasn't confident in growing it well. I am now. If the Excel doesn't work, I found that a 30 ppm KMnO4 bath for 3 minutes on hardscape kills it, not possible with plants. If I decide a 2 ppm tank dose is safe. Amanos don't take kindly to it, but can usually tolerate it. That might get it too. We will see. Normally I would advocate for regular manual removal and improve growth of plants, but I think my plant growth is near optimum and I don't see how I can manually remove it all. I could try a MAJOR trim in a month if need be. We will see.

Here is a plant list:

Hemianthus callitrichoides
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Erio. parkeri
Blyxxa japonica
Anubias bonsai
Rotala green
Alternathera renickii "mini"
Echinodorus tennelus
Rotala sunset
Rotala indica "true" or ammania bonsai
Pogostemon erectus
Phoenix moss
Flame moss
Rotala macandra "green" (honestly one of my fav stems if you can grow it well)
and some more stems I need to either ID or determine if they will be permanent members of the scape.

thanks Juri, I'll give it a try. My N dosing is probably leaner than usual with the Aquavitro line. I usually dose EI, but wanted to see the what the Aquavitro was all about. I will most likely switch back to EI after I'm done with them and compare results.

Its amazing how many Aquascapes you see that just do not balance out simply because a piece of DW (eg your tank) or a rock that just does not blend in with the complete theme.

When I was setting up the 750 Shrimp tank I played around with two small pieces of DW to make it look like one piece, I can assure the small cutters were use more than once and the cut off's were place exactly where I wanted them to be.

When finished I leave it alone for a few days and come back with a fresh outlook.

I work on "What's the hurry" think twice then again and act once.

Its very easy to see you are planning well ahead, I am sure this will give you a higher rating next time.

I have a controller, which right now is just a glorified timer. I don't run the pH or temp probe for it, unnecessary gear and more stuff in the tank. My ATI has its own timer, so I don't need it to run my lights anymore. I use it to turn the CO2 on and off now. Used to use it as a pH and temp controller, time pumps, a lot of stuff. Simple is better. The other item is the controller for the Ecotech MP10 pump. A very cool pump, I have it running on the lowest setting in lagoon mode.

Such a nice start! Can You please ID the plant on the top of the branch, outside water?

Click to expand...

The plants are various species of tillandsia. They are air plants and require little in terms of care. I thought they would look cool on the tops of the wood as they are too far out of the water to grow some immersed plants.

The plants are various species of tillandsia. They are air plants and require little in terms of care. I thought they would look cool on the tops of the wood as they are too far out of the water to grow some immersed plants.